The end of August 2012 saw the retirement of Randall E. (Randy) Wagner from Organ Supply Industries in Erie, Pennsylvania, after 36 years with the organization. He came to OSI as resident organbuilder and a member of the management team. In 1986 he was elected vice-president. In his retirement, he remains a member of the OSI Board and the ESOP Committee of this employee-owned company.
Wagner’s interest in the pipe organ began in childhood. In high school he started his organbuilding career, working after school and summers with Dr. Homer D. Blanchard, who became his teacher and mentor. After graduation from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1960, he continued with H. D. Blanchard Pipe Organs in Oberlin, Ohio, rising to general manager. In 1966 he joined the Holtkamp Organ Co., Cleveland, Ohio, in layout, drafting, and purchasing. From 1969 to 1976 Randy was in technical sales and purchasing for the W. H. Reisner Mfg. Co., Inc., Hagerstown, Maryland.
Randy Wagner is a founder of the Organ Historical Society (OHS), the Lorain County AGO chapter, the American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO), and the Hilbus OHS chapter. He is also a member of the Organ Club of London and the American Theatre Organ Society. He holds the certificate of Master Organbuilder, now referred to as Fellowship Certificate from the AIO, and was an early member of the AIO Examination Committee.
Wagner was honored with a company retirement lunch and was acknowledged at the final banquet of the AIO in Lansing, Michigan in early October 2012.
