Fisher's own version of Werner von Braun and friends

[Firedome]

BTW ... given it's prominence in the audio industry and in consoles specifically, does Fisher not deserve it's own category?Not just lumped in with... "Other"... oh the shame, the shame! Time to give then their due!
I hereby so propose ...
my $.02

I had known that Avery Fisher early-on had employed Victor Brociner, who later made a name on his own, and Len Feldman (Madison-Fieilding, later editor at Audio (and others?)) was also an engineering employee, but I had NO idea of the German engineering staff that was part of the post WWII brain drain of engineers like Werner von Braun who emigrated to the US for new opportunities. This is fascinating!

OK on with the the show.... sorry the images did not appear, this is all from an AK thread btw:


"Have you ever wondered who designed your Fisher? Just about every model ever mentioned in this forum was the brainchild of a team of German engineers Avery Fisher referred to as his "Dutchmen".

If you look at Fisher chassis you can easily spot the differences between the older Maerkle era designs and the much more modern Mergner era designs. Tube selection, part sourcing and even chassis layout show a definite European (German) influence in the latter models. I believe the Dutchmen designs started hitting the showrooms around 1958-59 and were distinguished by their all-in-one, horizontally-oriented, stereo chassis: TA-600, X-101A, FM-100, 100-T, 202-T, 101-R, etc. It may be of interest to note that several of the "Dutchmen" continued with Fisher through the Emerson era and well into the Sanyo era (the 1990s, in fact).

I recently received a PM from the son of the original Dutchman, the late Fred Mergner, who was hired by Fisher in 1956 and almost immediately promoted to VP of Engineering. (He replaced George P. Maerkle who went on to become the chief engineer at McIntosh until his tragic death aboard the American Airlines 707 that crashed into Jamaica Bay in 1962.) Mr. Mergner's son just happened to run across some of my posts here at AK when randomly googling his father's name. I replied to his PM with a ton of questions. He graciously offered to set up a phone interview with him and his mother.

My conversation with Mrs. Mergner was fascinating. Her German accent was charming and she evidently has very fond memories of those times. Her son very kindly sent me scans of some family photos which offer a rare glimpse of the people behind The Fisher name.

Avery Fisher and Fred Mergner being entertained by one of the upstart Japanese Hi-Fi Companies - possibly Trio/Kenwood - 1960:​

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Mr. Mergner's son told me that after dinner Avery Fisher and his dad were ushered into a room with only a pedestal in the the center upon which sat this Japanese company's latest receiver. It was a very close copy of a Fisher model and apparently intended as a compliment. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?) Mr. Fisher did not see it that way!

The Fisher Engineering Dept. in front of Plant #1, 21-21 44th Rd., L.I.C. - 1959

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Mrs. Mergner told me a funny story about this photo. Avery Fisher, being the perfectionist he was, apparently spent such a long time rearranging his staff for this photo that someone watching the scene from across the street eventually yelled out: "Just move the building!" Mrs. Mergner said that phrase became sort of an inside joke between her and her husband whenever referring to Mr. Fisher's somewhat obsessive attention to detail.

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"The Dutchmen"

Front Row L>R: Unknown, Frank Krausser, Fred Mergner, Unknown, Werner Regner, Unknown, Harro Heinz
Second Row L>R: Unknown, Unknown, Herbert Lippold​


The story behind the Dutchmen is very interesting. Evidently some time in the mid-50s Avery Fisher decided to take advantage of the engineering talent available in post-war Germany. He placed an ad in a German trade magazine soliciting applications. I think Mrs. Mergner said her husband was selected from among 42 applicants interviewed by Mr. Fisher.

Fred Mergner had been a radio engineer with the German Army during WWII on the Eastern Front. He also spent some time at Peenemunde working on the wire-guided bombs that were used to sink the Italian battleship Roma. At the end of the war he was involved in the desperate fighting against the Russians during the Battle of Berlin and yet somehow managed to surrender to the Americans. After the war he became an engineer for Grundig.

Once established at Fisher Mr. Mergner recruited the four other German engineers who comprised "The Dutchmen". I believe they had also worked for Grundig. Certainly, Harro Heinz (of Renkus-Heinz) worked at Grundig during its early years. Once Mrs. Mergner gave me the names of the Dutchmen I, of course, googled them and quickly found Mr. Heinz: http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/harro-heinz

I have written to Mr. Heinz as well as to another of the surviving Dutchmen who Mrs. Mergner gave me contact information for. Hopefully they will be willing to share stories of their part in Fisher history."

There is more on AK. So... much of Fisher's engineering from the early 50s on was a product of former Grundig (of all places) employees... shocking...who knew!! lol

[Firedome]

posted above now in the "Fisher" board. Thanks!