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Our Heritage
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In 1926, F. Edwin Schmitt, fascinated by the emerging radio market, but much to his father’s consternation, dropped out of high school to start his own business – the F. Edwin Schmitt Company. Little could his father have imagined that FE would go on to be a very successful business man, an icon in the growing audio industry. Friends with Avery Fisher, Sidney Harman, Sidney Shure, and other audio luminaries he would be officially recognized by the US government for his contributions to the Manhattan Project, and ultimately, have his company continue to thrive in 2010 – run by the third generation of Schmitt’s. Upon FE’s retirement in 1981the company name was changed to the Peter E. Schmitt Company after his nephew, the second generation now to run the business.
Our first line, acquired in 1926, was Sangamo capacitors (currently known as Cornel Dubiler) which we still represent today. Sangamo was to form the corner stone of the OEM division. FE became a self-taught electronics component expert. Toward the end of World War II, the US government sought him out, because of his expertise in capacitors, to assist in the Manhattan Project. With customers like Western Electric, Lockheed, Boeing, Hewlet Packard, and Perkin Elmer, the OEM division was to become a mainstay of the Peter E. Schmitt Company.
Our foray into the world of Professional Audio began in 1931 with the addition of Shure Brothers. While Shure Brothers initially made radio kits, it was not long before they moved into the world of microphones. |
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 The Professional Audio division truly took form with the addition of Peter Schmitt in 1957. Having recently retired from the Marine Corps as a Captain, his degree in Electrical Engineering and love of music made joining the family business an easy decision. During the next 25 years, Shure Brothers moved further into the professional world with the introduction of the SM line, wireless, circuitry, and speakers. In addition, The Peter E. Schmitt Company began to add lines such as Amphenol, Aphex, Omnimount, Rane, and Bose.
Michael Schmitt joined the company in 1980 with an Engineering degree from Lafayette College. By this time,  the OEM and Audio divisions had grown sufficiently large that reorganization was in order. John Francis was brought in to manage the OEM division while Peter and Michael concentrated on the Professional Audio division. Over the next 25 years the company expanded into the video and lighting markets with such lines as Martin, Coemar, Roland, NSI and projectiondesign.
Today, both divisions are housed in their new building located in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. |
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