Wednesday, August 9, 2006 we lost one of the last remaining pioneers of the marine hardware industry. Norman S. Wright, Jr, of Nicro Corporation died at his home in the Bay Area. A member of St. Francis Yacht Club, Norm will be remembered by many as he touched lives with his desire to promote innovation, his willingness to support a young group of businessmen as they grew and a sense of business ethics that was admirable.

Norm Wright bought a small Bay Area based marine hardware company called Nicro Metal Marine in 1959. This company was innovative because they developed the process of nickel chroming bronze, thus the name Nicro.

Up until 1959 most hardware on boats was made of polished bronze or brass. Soon after, Nicro Marine developed the soft cheek snatch block with cheeks made of PVC. Merriman Holbrook was the market leader at the time making snatch blocks with wooden cheeks. Next came the stainless steel snap shackle, the import agreement with Fico of Australia, which turned the business into Nicro Fico and the very lucrative marine market of the 1970's. Nicro Fico rocketed into history as a major worldwide marine hardware company.

As an aside, there is still an NF14000T on the moon. This is a titanium snap shackle that Nicro developed for NASA for use on the astronaut's backpacks. The Apollo missions brought so many moon rocks back that the snap shackles (and the back packs) had to stay up there. And there they sit to this day.

The economic slowdown that killed many great companies in the 1980's concerned, but did not scare, Mr. Wright away from the marine business. He plowed money into marketing, advertising and research and development of undeveloped market niches. Solar powered ventilation and LED lighting really peaked his interest. He was well into his seventies at the time and still looking forward to his next innovation!!!

Mr. Wright sold his business in 1996 to Ronstan (hardware) and Marinco (ventilation). He's been out of the marine limelight for a decade, but there are still hundreds of people who will remember him although he's not been in contact on a daily basis.

Bruce Brown
former employee of Norman S. Wright and Co.

08/18/06