In 1935, there was only one Kurt Salmon “associate.” Based in Nashville, Tenn., that associate, a slight, unassuming man with a passion for improvement, started an organization that still reflects his values and personality, more than 25 years after his retirement.
Trained as a textile engineer in Coblenz, Germany, Kurt Salmon immigrated to the United States in 1930 and worked in a hosiery mill. He became a consultant because it paid better, $7 an hour, and he enjoyed looking for ways to improve things and measuring the results without worrying about daily shipments.
He switched to apparel because it was more labor intensive than hosiery and offered greater cost-reduction potential. But first Kurt had to convince skeptical apparel manufacturers that an outsider could help. He did this with analytical persuasiveness and his unique personality, which combined old-world formality with a delightfully dry, pun-filled sense of humor.
Above all, Kurt loved people and family, his wife and four children, along with his KSA family of hundreds. He was a genuinely considerate and caring friend to his employees, as well as a manager who respected the professionals who worked with, not for, him.