Sy Herman Bio

He became a franchised Snap-On Tool dealer in 1952. After two years he gave up the franchise to become a supervisor for Snap-On with a field group of 12 Snap-On franchisees, which he developed.

In the late 1950s, Sy became Sales Manager for a small automotive specialty tool company in Newark, NJ, increasing both their sales volume and profits. He then began his own specialty hand tool manufacturing business.

During this time, Mr. Herman developed a line of 6 and 12 volt test lights and specialty hand tools. Distribution was through original equipment manufacturers and private branding.

In 1968, DRAF Tools founder Herb Sachs was retiring. In the course of his career, Mr. Sachs had not only taught the industry to rebuild many new components, but had invented the tools to do it with. Recognizing this same genius in Sy Herman, he and his son, Jeff (now running the business), recruited Sy to replace Herb as head of their R & D division. Sy's job would be to develop a line of specialty tools for the burgeoning automotive air conditioning service industry.

After a successful stint with DRAF Tool, Sy teamed up with his long time friend Ralph Edwards in 1981. Together they formed Classic Tool Design Inc.

True to form, Sy repeated what he had done so many times before in his career. Because of his ingenuity, invention and innovation, CTD was propelled to a position of leadership in the industry.

Although he worked his whole adult life in automotive service tools, less than 15 of those years were spent specializing in air conditioning. It is remarkable, therefore, that in this short time, Mr. Herman was responsible for the development of such a great number of specialty tools. Without his foresight and innovations, many of today's service jobs, which are taken for granted, would be impossible.

Mr. Herman retired in 1992 to Pompano Beach, FL where he now resides.