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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
November 23, 2007
For son of a three-generation business, coming home seemed like the right thing to do NEXT GENERATION IN BUSINESS by GARY JAVITCH The parental joy of having a child get into a good outof-state college is often tempered by the knowledge that perhaps your student might never return to Omaha, except as a “visitor.” Indeed, the Siren’s song of the big city has lured many a graduate to settle far from home. So imagine the thrill for Marcia and Steve Pitlor when their son David, 25, said he’d not only like to return home, but he’d also like to join the family business. Marcia Pitlor thought David’s decision to come home was wonderful. “And now it’s on a completely different level,” she observed. “You always want your kids to be happy. And if it’s his choice to be happy back home in Omaha, it’s a great bonus for us. “Plus he’s a great dog-sitter,” she added with a smile. “Now, when we want to or have to go out of town, we have someone we can really trust ...” Evaluating Engineering While attending Burke High School, David visited a number of colleges. “I liked Boston University my first time there,” he said. “I was looking for something different and BU represented an entirely different culture than the one I grew up in.” Like many freshmen, David began college unsure of his major. While his father had a degree in mechanical engineering, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do the same thing. Still, because the young man had strengths in math and science, he did make application to universities with schools of engineering. BU’s math and science curriculum in the first two years challenged and interested him. “I took classes in the basic hard sciences – lots of calculus, physics and a broad range of classes that ranged from electricity and magnetism to statics and dynamics (stationary structures and moving objects),” David explained. Only the serious students went further. “Even though I had not decided on the exact path I wanted to follow, I realized these courses qualified me for a variety of career opportunities,” he stated. So when his junior year came around, he continued his engineering-oriented curriculum, focusing on mechanical engineering. His fourth-year project encompassed much of what he studied in college. “It was one big test of all the
According to David, the gage his company produced could be used by shop floor personnel and served the functions of dozens of hand-held measuring tools. It was accurate and powerful enough for advanced measurements down to 2/10,000th of an inch. The device measurably enhanced a company’s quality control operations by measuring specific dimensions and features such as the roundness of a circle. While the job was quite fulfilling, the company experienced some financial problems and David, along with a number of others, had to look for other work. While he undertook the search, he also started talking to his dad about returning home. “I got a job offer in Boston, but I decided to turn it down,” David remarked. “Back home some of the older guys had retired from N. Pitlor and Sons or just decided to move on. There were some openings and it seemed like a good opportunity for me to take advantage of. “I loved Boston, but at the same time, some of my buddies were taking jobs elsewhere and leaving the city. A few were moving to New York City and while I visited it often, you sacrifice a lot to live in a city like that.” “So in late Spring 2006, I moved back home,” David stated. It was a great opportunity for the native Omahan. During his teen years he had worked in the Pitlor warehouse and helped bring parts out to job sites. So it certainly made it easier to do project management. “I started at the bottom to get a feel David Pitlor is a third--generation member of his family’s business, Pitlor for the entire operation. Currently I Plumbing. am working on a remodeling project at the Sarpy County Courthouse and at a retirement cenThe Education “after” his Education With a BSME (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical ter in Elkhorn. I also am beginning the project at the Engineering) in his portfolio, David set off to find a new Ak-sar-ben Village.” job. During the interval between leaving school and Working in HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air securing a position, the young graduate worked in a Conditioning) and the plumbing business, David disbank. covered many aspects of the job that hadn’t been covHe landed an engineering job in Boston and the com- ered in college. “I needed to expand upon the foundapany took full advantage of his skills. As a salesman, tion knowledge I gained in my engineering education,” David extolled the virtues of a precision measuring tool he noted. “I also had to learn to prepare bids and help designed for manufacturing companies that needed resolve problems at job sites. tight tolerances for their products. Continued on page 35 things that you learned at school,” David related. Teaming up with three others, the senior and his classmates built a rehabilitation device for kids with physical or mental challenges to be used in a confined space. The quartet designed and constructed a unique bike that helped to strengthen the user’s hands and arms. Accompanying their prototype, the team produced a lengthy 200-page report backed up by all the required Computer Aided Design drawings and mathematical calculations.