A Grand Farewell to Tom Arnold
1927-2009
While this may be an unconventional way to do an obituary, the founder of CNC WEST my father Tom Arnold was an unconventional man. No one loved to laugh or have a good time more than he did, even in the worst of times. And while Tom had some very tough times he always faced his pressures with a positive outlook and a smile.
CNC WEST readers know that we are a sucker for a good success story. We love to find successful shops that came from modest beginnings. What CNC WEST readers probably don’t know is that, Tom Arnold has as good a story to tell as any we have ever written about.
Tom was born January 13, 1927 in Virginia. His family moved to Long Beach, California when he was a youth and he spent most of his life in the Long Beach area. Duty called when he was 19 and he joined the Navy. He spent 3 years in the Navy on different ships. He spent most his time on the SS South Dakota where he was injured after his ship was attacked and he received a Purple Heart and two other medals when he left the Navy.
Tom came back to Long Beach, got married and got a job at the Long Beach Press Telegram. He loved the publishing business. At first he was a copywriter and after a few years he got into advertising sales. Once he started selling ads he got the bug so to speak.
In the early 1960’s an opportunity came along to sell advertising for an industrial publication. It was called the Industrial News and was printed every other week. It had southern and northern California editions. Tom loved manufacturing and was interested in aerospace so this was a natural fit.
Over the years he worked his way through the ranks from salesman to sales manager. He got to know most of the movers and shakers in the industry and Industrial News was thriving under Tom as the sales manager and was THE publication for western manufacturing professionals to read to find out what was going on in the industry.
At that time Tom was also a successful youth coach in baseball in his hometown of Lakewood. A few kids who played with him went on to play in the major leagues. He was manager of a Pony League team that went to the World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. He had two sons and a daughter. Life was good.
A Serious Curveball
In 1976 at the age of 49 with life seemingly doing well Tom had a major setback. He had a massive heart attack, which required quadruple bypass surgery. In today’s world that would be considered troublesome but not devastating. In 1976 that was devastating.
Tom had to take 2-1/2 to 3 months off of work. While insurance paid for a lot of his surgery, it did not pay for it all. And it was quite expensive. And while his company paid him his base salary they did not pay him commissions.
By the time he came back to work he had pretty much depleted his savings account. Also the Industrial News had demoted him from sales manager and gave him the worst territory they had. He was off for so long they said they had no other choice but to promote others. While Tom was not happy, he did not have a lot of other options. He worked there for a little bit more and then quit.
He took a job with Cardinal Publishing working as a rep for their yearly Metalworking Buyers Guides. That was to bide time and bring in income as he prepared to start his own publication called Machine Tools West.
In April 1977 he started Machine Tools West. He was 50 years old with basically no savings. He was starting from scratch. He was able to get a few people who believed in him to loan him money to get the publication going. At the time Industrial News was still going strong and there were 2 or 3 other regional magazines publishing in the west. To say that this was risky is an understatement.
To start a publication is a little bit more expensive than people think. The post office does not take credit. The postage check has to be there with the magazine. Printers are very leery of start up companies. They can’t come repossess the magazines or newspapers so Tom had to pre-pay for his printing for the first few months. He was basically broke but with undeterred determination he made it work.
Little by little Machine Tools West grew. Advertisers of other magazines like the Industrial News were changing their ad schedules to run with Tom’s magazine. By 1979 he was on schedule to actually start making and saving a little money. The magazine was doing well. Everything pointed to Machine Tools West doing well. By the mid 80’s Industrial News went out of business, as did the other regional magazines that were his competition.
It’s a Family Affair
In 1979 I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. I had spent the last 2 years at Long Beach State on a baseball scholarship but had quit the team. When trying to figure out my next move, my dad said he would like for me to work for him…in a few years. He had a plan for another magazine but wanted me to learn the machine tool business and learn how to sell advertising. Two things that 30 years later are debatable that if I know anything about.
He got me a job at Hitachi Seiki in the parts department. I learned about machinery and the industry. At night I took machine shop and advertising classes. In late 1980 I went to work for him. In 1981 he started a new magazine called CNC WEST. This venture was even more risky than the Machine Tools West venture. Tom was 54 and once again putting it all on the line.
My mom kept her full time job and then at night came and did the books and helped with the mail list. She was able to quit her job at the bank in the mid 80’s and help fulltime with the magazines.
My dad loved the west coast and wanted a magazine for west coast manufacturers. He wanted a glossy magazine with west coast success stories with national advertisers. A lot of people thought he was nuts as there were no other regional magazines like this in the industry.
This time around it was a little easier for him to get the printers to extend him a little credit. The first few years were a little hairy but Tom had faith that he could do it. Getting national advertisers to advertise in a regional magazine was a little harder than Tom envisioned, but he never gave up.
Though in the first few years I was probably more of a hindrance than help to him, he never lost faith in me. While I was trying to get the hang of the business Tom was traveling all over the country trying to sell ads. Back in the early 80’s the fax was a novelty and email was non-existent. Cell phones were called car phones and the size of a loaf of bread. So it was very important to travel to get to know someone and make contact with them.
By the late 80’s we were doing well. Tom was traveling less but having the time of his life. Making friends in the industry was very important to Tom. And he made a lot of friends. A lot of people asked him to consider doing regional magazines in other regions like the south or Midwest, but he had zero interest. He felt a regional magazine should have regional stories and he thought that articles about a shop in South Gate might not hold interest to a reader in Charlotte. And vise versa. Plus he was a west coast guy through and through.
The Tradition Will Carry On
In the 90’s he started to get offers to sell CNC WEST to some larger publishing companies. While he considered selling to someone else, he eventually sold it to me in 1994. He then moved to Hemet, California in 1995 where he took up golf and lived 12 great years up there in semi-retirement. He still attended trade shows and sold ads but he was set to have fun in the golden years. And fun he had. Along with the friends he made in the industry he made as many in Hemet. He loved being on the golf course shooting the breeze with friends and telling jokes.
Once my mom passed away a couple of years ago he started to slowly decline. My brother who is a much better salesman than I am talked him into moving closer to me 8 months ago. His health really was declining but he still always wanted to discuss the magazine with me. He was surprised to hear that four metalworking magazines had gone digital only in the past year. His thought was that the readers would not like that as much as holding a printed magazine in their hands. I tend to agree and told him I would do everything in my power to make sure that CNC WEST would continue as a print magazine.
I am 51 now, about the age my dad risked it all and won. I owe it to him and the readers of this magazine that he thought so highly of to continue the tradition. Even in these more difficult times when budgets have been cut and not as many people are advertising and postage keeps increasing I vow to continue the tradition of giving CNC WEST readers a local magazine with interesting articles about west coast companies. And I am serious as a heart attack about that.
