Carl George Berger
1912 - 1998
   


Carl was born in Cincinnati on 9/14/1912. He married Martha Louise Horstmann on 6/26/1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Carl and Martha had 6 children.

They raised their family in a beautiful home on Shawnee Run Road in Indian Hill.

Carl was the salesman for the family business.

"In 1968 Carl put together in one week a group of cigar leaders and $800,000.00 to salvage the pieces of the DWG cigar Co. This cigar company successfully deversified into a major mid Ohio distributor. This was one of Carl's finest hours."

"Georges son Carl inspired the Berger machine-made cigar venture. George was ready to get out of the leaf tobacco business when Carl was young. Carl convinced his father George to stay in. He also convinced him to set up the cigar factory in Frankfort, Indiana. During the early 1950s this plant lost money heavily. One year it lost about $250,000. It was only family financial staying power that enabled it to survive into the profitable years since."

"Another year, because of unusual growing conditions, George had hundreds of cases of tobacco too short to sell. Carl suggested calling it “Cuban Leaf” tobacco and proceeded to sell it as a special exotic type. Even after all this tobacco was sold, customers continued to request “Cuban Leaf” tobacco, which of course was unavailable. Thinking outside of the box often gets you out of the box."

He died in 11/8/1998 in Cincinnati, OH.


* quotes by Fred Berger



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