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Dudlo foreman 1912 · founded Rea 1933 · died 1954
Victor Rea came up inside George Jacobs's wire works: the company's own ninetieth-anniversary account has him starting as a foreman in 1912 at the Dudlo Company, which had relocated from Cleveland to Wall Street in Fort Wayne the year before. A Creighton Avenue historic-district account calls Rea Jacobs's partner in bringing Dudlo here — Jacobs is profiled in the People sections — and gives Rea's 1920s residence as 2445 Fairfield Avenue; he was active in the Chamber of Commerce and the Quest Club. Rea's own company timeline names him Dudlo's works manager in 1929, where the News-Sentinel and Jacobs accounts call him the company's president from 1928; the Business record carries the difference and this entry does not settle it. In 1933, shortly before Dudlo's Fort Wayne production was moved to Rome, New York, Rea resigned from General Cable and formed Rea Magnet Wire with several former Dudlo employees — the Jacobs account says three co-workers — leasing the Woodward Engineering Building. His founding claim, that Rea was "the first independent producer of enameled wire in the country," was his own, and the Copper Development Association's 2025 welcome to the company corroborates it in substance. Rea died of a heart attack in 1954. His son Samuel Rea succeeded him as president, and Alcoa purchased the company on 18 January 1960. The wire course after him is the Business section's.
Sources:
- Businesses — "Rea Magnet Wire Company" and "Dudlo Manufacturing Company" (the 1912 foreman start, the 1928/1929 title difference, the 1933 founding, the 1960 Alcoa purchase).
- Rea Magnet Wire, ninetieth-anniversary company account — Rea's start as a Dudlo foreman in 1912; the Copper Development Association (2025) on the independent-producer standing.
- Creighton Avenue historic-district walking account — Rea as Jacobs's partner in the Dudlo removal, the Fairfield Avenue residence, the Chamber of Commerce and Quest Club activity.