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The fortunes: George A. Jacobs, a chemist who had worked at General Electric's Fort Wayne plant, formed the Dudlo wire company in 1911 with William and B. Paul Mossman behind him and built the Dudlo Manufacturing Company from its formation in 1911, its Fort Wayne factory following in 1912 — the firm that started Fort Wayne's magnet wire industry. Victor Rea, a Dudlo manager from 1929, left in 1933 to found the Rea Magnet Wire Company with other former Dudlo men. The business entries for both firms are in the Business section.
The Rea exit and after: Victor Rea died in 1954; his son Samuel A. Rea (1917–2010) served as president from 1954 until the company was sold to the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) on January 18, 1960 — the sale price was not published in the sources consulted. Sam Rea then founded the venture firm Indiana Capital Corporation in 1968 and served five terms in the Indiana House of Representatives (1963–1972). A group led by Jim Vann bought Rea from Alcoa in 1986; Vann, as majority shareholder, later donated the manufacturer's former headquarters and 14½ acres to the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department. Rea, ninety years after its founding, was sold to Elektrisola of Germany, terms not disclosed.
What it left: Sam Rea's civic legacy is the larger one: he was the founding president — the first board chairman — of the Fort Wayne Fine Arts Foundation in 1955, the organization now known as Arts United, and Arts United's $25,000-level donor circle still carries the name Sam Rea Circle. The magnet wire industry itself, Dudlo's and Rea's and their successors', remained one of the city's signature industries for a century.
Sources:
- Samuel A. Rea obituary, Chicago Tribune via Legacy.com (2010) — presidency 1954–1960, the Alcoa sale, Indiana Capital Corporation, the Arts United founding presidency.
- Rea Magnet Wire Company history (Wikipedia, from company sources) — Victor Rea's 1933 founding, the January 18, 1960 Alcoa purchase, the 2006 Phelps Dodge acquisition.
- Arts United, 2017 and 2018 annual reports — Sam Rea first board chairman, 1955; the Sam Rea Circle.
- Allen County Genealogical Society — the Vann donation of the headquarters and 14½ acres; the Elektrisola sale.