Duane D. Pearsall
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Duane Darwin "Dewey" Pearsall (March 3, 1922 – April 11, 2010) was an American entrepreneur best known for developing and marketing the first battery-powered home
smoke detector A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detecte ...
in 1965.


Biography


Early life

Pearsall was born in
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
, on March 3, 1922. He attended high school in
Keego Harbor, Michigan Keego Harbor is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,970 at the 2010 census. With a land area of , Keego Harbor is the third-smallest city by land area in the state of Michigan after the cities of Peter ...
and attended General Motors Institute (now
Kettering University Kettering University is a private university in Flint, Michigan. It offers Bachelor of Science, bachelor of science and master's degree, master’s degrees in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM (science, technology, engineeri ...
) from 1940 to 1942. He served in World War II from 1942 to 1945 in the Naval Air Corps, first as a navigator on a submarine patrol and later as a pilot. He married Marjorie Lee Fewel on July 22, 1944. After the war, he attended the
University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...
and graduated in 1947 with a
Bachelor of Arts and Science Bachelor of Arts and Science(s) (BA&Sc, BASc, BAS, B.A.&Sc., B.A.Sc., or B.A.S.), sometimes also named Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA), is an undergraduate bachelor's degree conferred by a small number of universities from countries including the ...
. He then served in the Naval Air Reserve at
Buckley Field Buckley Space Force Base is a United States Space Force base in Aurora, Colorado named after United States Army Air Service First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley. The base is run by Space Base Delta 2, with major units including the U.S. Space Fo ...
from 1948 to 1954.


Business and engineering career

Pearsall worked with
Honeywell Corporation Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance mat ...
as a heating and air conditioning sales engineer for seven years before founding the Pearsall Company in 1955. Pearsall founded Statitrol Corporation in
Lakewood, Colorado The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...
, in 1963. A few months later Lyman Blackwell, one of Pearsall's engineers at Statitrol, improvised a test to measure the flow of ions in an airstream discharging from a generator. When a technician, smoking nearby, casually exhaled smoke into the fan inlet of the generator, the ion meter pegged. Pearsall immediately realized that the basic ionization technology of this device could also be used for smoke detection. This accidental discovery was similar to a discovery made by Swiss physicist Walter Jaeger in the late 1930s. In 1965 Pearsall began the long process to develop and market a home smoke detector powered by a battery which could be easily installed and replaced. These first units were dubbed "SmokeGard 700", Pearsall was awarded a design patent for this in 1973, and began mass-producing them in 1975. Shortly afterwards, he began working with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). His work with NFPA would eventually lead to the change of the uniform building codes to require smoke detectors in new construction. Statitrol sold the smoke detector invention to
Emerson Electric Emerson Electric Co. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Ferguson, Missouri. The ''Fortune'' 500 company manufactures products and provides engineering services for industrial, commercial, and consumer markets.
in 1980. Pearsall sold Statitrol in 1977. Later into his life Pearsall founded several companies and retired three separate times. He was a spokesman and advocate for American small business, which he considered to be the "backbone of the nation's economy". He traveled to Washington, D.C. numerous times to testify before Congressional committees on small business issues. Pearsall helped found the Small Business Council of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urgin ...
in 1976, and was chairman of the Colorado Small Business Council in 1979. From 1975 to 1978, he served as a director of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, and from 1982 to 1989, he was a director of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, serving as its chairman from 1985 to 1986. In 1983, Pearsall co-founded Columbine Venture Funds, an organization specializing in new technology located in Denver.


Later life

Pearsall and his wife Marge lived in
Dillon, Colorado The Town of Dillon is a home rule municipality located in Summit County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,064 at the 2020 United States Census, a +17.70% increase since the 2010 United States Census. Dillon is a part of the Br ...
, from 2000 to 2007. They moved to Denver in 2007. Pearsall died on April 11, 2010, at his home in Denver.


Awards and legacy

Pearsall has won several awards and honors for his contributions to fire safety. In 1976, the
Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and stre ...
named Pearsall as Small Business Person of the Year for Colorado. That same year President Gerald Ford presented him with the National Small Business Person of the Year award. The
Society of Fire Protection Engineers The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) is a professional society for fire protection engineering established in 1950 and incorporated as an independent organization in 1971. It is the professional society representing those practicing the ...
recognized him as Fire Protection Man of the Year in 1980. Pearsall was a charter member of the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a Private university, private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now has 14 ac ...
's Fire Protection Engineering Board of Advisers and helped create the university's
fire protection engineering Fire protection engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to protect people, property, and their environments from the harmful and destructive effects of fire and smoke. It encompasses engineering which focuses on fire ...
program, now recognized as one of the leading fire safety study programs in the world. The university has honored him with an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
and named him the first recipient of the Center for Fire Safety Studies Herrick Drake Commemorative Award in 1987. In 1996, WPI awarded him an honorary doctorate degree in science and in 2004 presented him with the WPI Presidential Medal.Duane Pearsall Collection
/ref> The Rockies Venture Club, an organization that helps entrepreneurs obtain funding, established the Duane Pearsall Entrepreneurial Award, given at irregular intervals to noteworthy business owners in Colorado. Recipients have included John Elway,
Roy Romer Roy Rudolf Romer (born October 31, 1928) is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Colorado from 1987 to 1999, and subsequently as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2000 to 2006. Family and e ...
,
Bill Daniels Robert William Daniels Jr. (July 1, 1920 – March 7, 2000) was an American cable television executive and owner of professional sports teams. He was a pioneer in building the cable television industry and was known as the "father of cable televi ...
(posthumously),
John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 20 ...
, and Rick Patch. Pearsall's autobiography, '' My Life Unfolded'', was written in 2009, but never published.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearsall, Duane D. People from Pontiac, Michigan Kettering University alumni University of Denver alumni 1922 births 2010 deaths People from Summit County, Colorado Businesspeople from Denver 20th-century American businesspeople United States Navy personnel of World War II