Only in America can a dream come true. The year was 1959 when an Italian immigrant family settled in Brooklyn, New York. The family’s patriarch, Julian Rizzuto, invented a hair roller made of a wire spring wrapped with a netted nylon mesh, which was revolutionary.
Contributed by Lee Rizzuto
Together with his son Leandro, Julian decided to start a business and market his new product. With this hair roller as its first product, Continental Hair Products was born. The early years of Continental Hair Products were challenged by multiple fires, truck robberies and the unexpected passing of Julian Rizzuto.
After the passing of Julian, Leandro and his family continued on with tremendous passion and conviction. This passion allowed the business to grow leaps and bounds over the years. By the early 1970s Continental Hair Products had evolved into Conair Corp. and the scope of business grew to include electrical products, such as the pistol grip hair dryer.
Over the years, Leandro demonstrated he was incredibly skilled at identifying and developing new products. Conair quickly became known for its endless introduction of products, packaging, promotions and value. All of Conair’s expanding line were made with exceptional quality and always sold at a fair price. It was during these years that the range of the company expanded thanks to a series of mergers.
Leandro Jr. eventually took over new product department, introducing countless multi-million-piece items. Together with the rest of the family, the business continued to grow. High-end hotels in the United States and abroad often carried Conair products.
Sadly, on December 3, 2017, Leandro Sr. passed away after a difficult battle with pancreatic cancer. The family and employees alike were grief stricken, but all promised that Conair would continue to thrive for generations to come.
The combination of estate taxes and other payments meant the Rizzutos would have had to pay more than 50% of Conair’s value to the U.S. government. Many options were weighed with the company’s survival the most important factor in decision making, and eventually a deal was brokered with American Securities LLC. In this deal, the family received the payments it needed for Uncle Sam, plus maintains a minority interest in the new Conair company.
Conair now becomes part of an even larger US$40 billion company, the 3,000 employees get to continue their work, and the Rizzuto family continues its 60-plus-year connection to the business. Despite some struggles, the ending to this chapter in Conair’s history is a beginning of a new one — with many more to come.